Warning: Retrace 70 spoilers, Character torture.

Tame

It was bothersome, really... that the boy was still here, still clinging to those last shreds of conscious thought, to those tiny fragments of hope that told him he was something more than a chain, more than a doll, more than nothing.

Stupid creature.

He had control over this body now - his body - and there was little the boy could do about that ('Boy'? Really, he had to stop calling him that). Still, it would be better if everything could just go back to the way it was back then…

Well... Perhaps he could tame the beast one last time, just for the sake of convenience. B-Rabbit's powers were far stronger when they came form the chain itself rather than being mediated through a human body after all. If he could make Oz submit to him once again, if he could make the chain obey him just as he had done in the past, nothing could prevent him from fulfilling his goal.

All he had to do was break him…

And he knew exactly how to do it…

"There's really no point in denying your fate, Oz," Jack said as he approached the poor, pathetic being lying motionless just a few steps behind him, stopping by his side and looking down at him with eyes full of pity. The boy was still shaking, unable to move, quivering from head to toe and struggling to take deep, shaky breaths. To his credit, Oz did not shy away from meeting Jack's gaze, but his eyes (stolen eyes) appeared to have lost some of their spark.

Was he still trying not to cry? How ridiculous.

"There is only one course of action for you now," he said, lowering himself onto one knee and brushing a few stray hands of hair from the boy's face. He allowed his fingers to trace the blonde's features, inspecting every inch of flawless skin, his skin, that he could find, ignoring the way Oz's breath caught in his throat at the contact and pressing down harder when the blonde tried to turn away. "And that…" he said, "is to follow my command, like you used to."

Oz did not utter a word in response to his suggestions. He did not even move. Now that Jack thought about it, he hadn't spoken at all since they had left his memories. Shaky breaths were the only noise he contributed to the conversation.

He gasped, however, when Jack pulled something out from behind his back… A little stuffed rabbit, made of velvet soft, black material, with big floppy hears, a charming red coat, and beady little eyes that reflected just a tiny glimmer of red.

It was only an illusion, a trigger to bring about… certain memories… but Oz did not know that. He did not know just how much control Jack had over him, over his memories, over everything he was…

But he would soon…

He would remember why he obeyed…

"You used to be so cute," he muttered absentmindedly, holding the toy carefully before him and brushing non existent particles of dusk from it's coat, "Alice's favorite, who promised to protect her… Heh." He released the toy and let it fall to the floor, where it bounced twice before lying still.

Oz visibly tensed.

Good.

"Not very useful, though," Jack concluded, reaching down and lifting the rabbit up by the arm. "She was very upset when you went missing one day, but it was necessary. You remember why, don't you?" He chuckled when Oz merely blinked, the ghost of fear dancing in the reflection of his irises. Did he remember? Well, it wouldn't take long to refresh his memory…

"Kill Leo," the abrupt change of subject caught the younger blonde off guard, and the way that Jack's tone never changed, his smile never wavering... It made Oz feel sick with fear, how calm Jack acted while giving such a command ('Leo's… He's… And isn't Glen your…?'). He shook his head, terrified to speak aloud, afraid fo what would happen if he dared open his mouth. "No?" a subtle change in tone, false surprise, a glimmer of amusement in those all-seeing eyes. "My my… What a troublesome toy you are…" he sighed loudly and held the plush to his chest, stroking its head idly, slowly, almost in a loving fashion… Suddenly, he clenched the tip of one ear in the palm of one hand and pinched it between the fingers of his other, so hard that he could feel the pads of his fingers met in the middle.

Oz whimpered, eyes shut tight.

"You didn't want to kill anyone back then, either," Jack mused aloud, "If Alice asked you to, maybe you would have done it, even though you hated it… but you wouldn't follow my orders." The air grew colder all of a sudden, a soft chuckle stilling the smaller blonde's breath in his lungs. Suddenly, Jack was leaning over Oz, his face far too close, eyes narrowing, piercing, mutated that stilll-soft smile into something sinister and dangerous. "But we soon fixed that…" he whispered, "didn't we, Oz?"

A sharp tug on the rabbits ear, a quiet grunt of pain. Oz tried to move, but he was too weak to do anything more than squirm. He grit his teeth hard, attempting to numb the aching pain in his head.

"Maybe you don't remember that either, hmm?"

He remembered. Oh God, he remembered.

"But…" Jack said as he rose to his feet, lifting his leg and placing it at the opposite side of Oz so that he stood above him, staring down he the terrified boy with that same, emotionless smile on his face.

"J-Jack…"

He wouldn't…

Jack gripped the rabbits arms tightly in his hand.

"P… P-Please, Jack…"

He couldn't…

"Perhaps you need to be reminded…" Fingers dug into the torso of the plush, gripping hard.

"Ah!" Oz's body lurched, his stomach and chest feeling as though they had been punched, but forced himself to open his eyes and return his attention to the man above him, his blood running cold. That…smirk… those eyes… He was going to-! "N-No! Jack! Please!"

"… who your master is…"

"STO-!"

The sound of tearing fabric, and then the boy was screaming.

Jack hummed to himself as he looked between the plush's left arm and the body it was once attached too, completely ignoring the writhing body at his feet. Fueled by agony the boy found the strength to try and roll over onto his side to try and alleviate some pain, but Jack simply lifted a leg and pressed down on his chest, keeping him in place. Trapped on his back Oz clutched at his shoulder, where it felt as those his body had been torn in two.

No blood, no wound, just pure, agonising pain.

"Oh dear…" Jack muttered, glancing down at Oz, his tone slightly disappointed, "I didn't mean to tear it all off."

Oz was breathing rapidly, gasping loudly, unable to think about anything but the pain. The pain! It hurt so much! He'd never felt this… his never felt pain like this…!

But he had…

"Remember when I gave you to Vincent?" Scissors… Where did he get scissors?

"D-Don't-!" The top half of the right ear was completely cut off. Oz tried not to scream. Tried not to cry. Tried to be strong… Jack pressed the blade into the hole where the rabbit's arm should be. Oz cried out, tears brimming in his eyes, insides burning, his whole body aching. It hurt-! "S-st-op!"

"I thought we'd never sew you back together… but we always managed it somehow."

"Ja-ck!"

"Good thing, too, because how else would we control such a monster whenever you stepped out of line?" Jack laughed, pinching a tiny piece of stuffing between his fingers and pulling it out, earning more exclamations of pain from the boy beneath him. "Does that hurt?" He asked in false concern, pressing his foot down harder when the boy tried to shake him off. "It's sort of funny when you think about it… B-Rabbit is such a powerful Chain… but it can be so easily brought to it's knees if it's original form is damaged."

It only took the rest of his ear, a few more cuts, a little more stuffing pulled out and dropped carelessly over the blonde before he had Oz reduced to a mess of heavy sobbing and frantic breathing. He hadn't though the boy would even last that, to be honest.

"Will you kill?" he asked.

"N-No…" Oz sobbed weakly, but without hesitance. Someone had gained a little willpower over the years, it seemed.

How annoying.

"It's easy to hurt you, Oz. Very easy…" Jack said, stepping away from the boy and lowering himself to sit by Oz's side. He kept his thumb lodged into the hole that he had stabbed in the Rabbit's stomach, completely unfazed when the boy before him screamed, scratching the toys insides with his nail absentmindedly, "Why don't you let go… like last time?"

Oz couldn't speak, but he shook his head.

"All you have to do is listen to me, and this will all be over."

"N-" He dug his thumb deeper. Stupid, stubborn chain.

"I can keep doing this you know. I'll do this as long as it takes. You'll give in, in the end. You always do…"

Still Oz refused. He still shook his head, he growled and glared through the agony, he still forced out a stubborn 'no'. Really… he was being such a nuisance…

But Jack would not be swayed. He had waited an entire century for this, and he was not going to lose his chance… In here, they could do this for what felt like a hundred years and no more than a minute would pass in reality. Oz would break eventually. He had before, and turned into the most beautiful monster as a result. He wanted that Oz back… the one that danced in the blood of his enemies, the one that took joy in the slaughter of red-cloaked fiends.

Not this… Not this poor, distraught, tortured teenager. Not this moral, self aware being. Not this pitiful, worthless creature…

"Do as your told…"

To be the old B-Rabbit… That would be best…

It would all work out for the best this way…

For him…

For Lacie…

And even for Oz…

"Just do what you're told, B-Rabbit…"

End